New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the chamber’s top Democrat, said in off-the-cuff remarks picked up by a Senate floor microphone Thursday that President Donald Trump “likes us,” seeming to refer to the President’s recent deals with him and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
“He likes us. He likes me anyway,” Schumer said. It was not clear who he was speaking to when he appeared to describe his interactions with the President. “Here’s what I told him. I said, ‘Mr. President, you’re much better off if you can sometimes step right and sometimes step left. If you have to step just in one direction, you’re boxed.'”
Trump has come under fire from conservatives frustrated by his dealmaking with the Democrats.
Schumer hit an optimistic note, saying, “It’s going to work out, and it’ll make us more productive too.”
The comments from Schumer came the day after he and Pelosi dined with Trump at the White House on Chinese food. Once the dinner was over, the pair of Democratic leaders released a statement announcing a potential agreement on enshrining protections for young undocumented immigrants into law, “excluding” Trump’s proposed US-Mexico border wall.
Later, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders fired back that “excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to.”
Seeming to refer to their statement over the microphone, Schumer said: “Look, what we said was exactly accurate.”
Trump on Thursday morning took to Twitter to clarify that there was no deal struck at the dinner, and went on to argue against deporting people brought into the country as children.
“No deal was made last night on DACA,” Trump tweeted. “Massive border security would have to be agreed to in exchange for consent. Would be subject to vote.”
Word of the potential deal between the Republican administration and congressional Democrats came a week after Trump agreed to a proposal from Schumer and Pelosi to tie hurricane aid to extensions for funding for the government and the debt ceiling through the end of the year.
After the open mic moment, Schumer spokesman Matt House said they had nothing to add or clarify about his remarks.